Word: padang
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Sukarno flew into Ceylon with the cheers of Syrian demonstrators ("Long Live the Lion of Indonesia") still ringing in his gratified ears, anti-Communist politicians and dissident army commanders of the outlying provinces met to muster their forces and concert their plans at the Central Sumatran capital of Padang. The conferences began some three weeks ago in deepest secrecy. Summoned by shrewd, stocky Colonel Maludin Simbolon, the dissident commanders flew in from the Celebes and South Sumatra. The officers are mostly young colonels, and all are anti-Communists who run their areas with cool efficiency and a minimum of corruption...
...government would become a permanent counter-government which would seek recognition from other powers as the legitimate government of all Indonesia, on the ground that the Djuanda government is actually challenged almost everywhere in Indonesia except in Java, and that it has never been invested by Parliament. Said one Padang official: "We fought for a country based on Pantja Sila [the Five Principles of belief in God, nationalism, humanitarianism, social justice and democracy]. Did we do this just to turn the country over to Communists as they are doing in Djakarta...
Separate Channels. Already the outlying areas are operating almost like separate countries. Djakarta customs officers inspect the luggage of Sumatra-bound passengers as if they were flying to a hostile country. In contrast to Djakarta, Colonel Simbolon's Padang was remarkably peaceful, secure, and spotlessly clean. It was also much healthier economically. Padang's cost-of-living index has risen 77 points in the last five years against 144 for Djakarta; bartering its rubber with Singapore produces an estimated $1,500,000 a month in profits. When Djakarta seized eight South Sumatran ships in an effort to halt...
...book, however, Author Shute trifles with reportage and comes a cropper. Traveling in Sumatra in 1949, Shute was the house guest of Mr. & Mrs. J. G. Geysel-Vonck. His hostess had been one of a party of about 80 Dutch women & children taken by the Japanese at Padang in 1942 and thereafter marched round Sumatra for 2% years. Mrs. Geysel was one of fewer than 30 survivors of the 1,200-mile trek. Her story, and Shute's admiration for her courage and resolution, are the basis of the book...